Sunday, 12 October 2014

I've found myself shopping online a lot more recently, mostly due to the fact I'm just too lazy to go into town. Of course, I visit the web pages of nearly every high street shop there is - H&M, Topshop, Urban Outfitters, New Look, Miss Selfridge being some of my favourites - but I really wanted to share two online purchases I made recently from smaller online stores that i have fallen completely in love with.

Sighh Designs - I have been eyeing up Polly's phone cases for absolutely ages. I first discovered her shop through her Instagram (which I'm also obsessed with) and ever since have been wanting to make a purchase. The only thing which was putting me off was that they were £14, which actually isn't that bad considering ones from UO are roughly the same price. The problem was I had just been so used to getting cheap ones from Ebay, but now I realise that they were cheap for a reason! This phone case is such good quality and can we just talk about the print? HOW cute!? I am super excited for Polly to release even more products (right now she only sells the phone cases and pocket mirrors) because her designs are absolutely gorgeous.

Dead Sea Jewellery - This shop I actually discovered through Polly's Instagram as well (I really am obsessed) and I was amazed at how cheap the prices of all the jewellery was. This beautiful Amethyst Druzy Ring was just £10 which is pretty good for jewellery, especially comparing it to some shops on Etsy which are ridiculously overpriced. The ring arrived within a week and came in a little cute box, all in perfect condition and I am more than pleased with the way the ring looks. This store seem to always be releasing new products and I already have a little wishlist of more things I want to order.

Do you have any online stores that you love? Please let me know in the comments :-) ♡

Saturday, 27 September 2014

BLACK TOP / SKIRT / CHECKED JUMPER / DR MARTENS / HEELS / SCARF - PRIMARK /PHONE CASEThe season of jumpers and cozy things is finally here (hooray) and I couldn't be more excited to make some autumn/winter purchases. This is a wish list so I won't end up getting everything/I'll change things, but these are the kind of things I'm looking out for when i'm shopping for new clothes.Most of these things are pretty affordable bar the Dr. Martens which I have been contemplating on getting for ages but I'm in so desperate need for some good winter boots that I don't really mind splurging! I've also wanted some open toe heels for parties or for going out and I fell in love with these nude ones from Matalan.I'm also on the hunt for a good chunky, oversized cream cardigan and a black and white striped top (similar to this American Apparel one - just hopefully a bit cheaper!)Also I know most of these things don't go with one another but I'm not planning to wear them together - I'm hoping to create an autumn lookbook soon with some of my go-to outfits for autumn and winter.Please let me know any of your staple clothing items/accessories for winter in the comments below :-) ♡

Saturday, 20 September 2014

I don't know why but when it gets to this time of year I always feel the need to stock up on bath and body products. I think it may be due to the dull weather and the fact that nearly anything bath/skincare related makes me extremely happy (the simple pleasures, I know...) So when I found out The Body Shop were having a 40% sale, I couldn't resist getting some goodies.

The Body Shop is without a doubt my go-to store if I'm looking for a new bath product, mainly because every time I seem to go in they have some kind of offer on. To get the 40% off I only had to spend a minimum of £5 but as you can see I took full advantage of the offer and treated myself to a few bits and bobs. The order altogether only came to £22.79 (including postage) AND I also received a full size free gift. Talk about grabbing yourself a bargain!

The first couple of things I got were from the Raspberry range and smell absolutely a-maz-ing. I bought both the Shower Gel and the Body Butter - which would usually come to £16 together, full price. However, like I said, The Body Shop seems to always have offers on, especially on the body butters, so always keep a look out and you might save yourself a bit of money (and also smell a-maz-ing!)

The next two things I picked up were skincare items. Now I've had a very set skincare routine for a while now, which I think is working pretty well, but the only thing I felt was missing was a toner. This Seaweed Clarifying Toner (£8.50) is made for combination/oily skin but is also alcohol-free which is something I try and look for in skincare products. It claims to remove impurities and to refine pores, so fingers crossed it works and gives me that little something I've been missing in my skincare routine. The next product I'm actually going to use as a face primer, after applying moisturiser, and it's the Tea Tree Pore Minimiser (£7.50.) Having tried products from this range before I was a little wary because I found them to be a bit strong, but I've heard great reviews about this product and with the 40% off this was my "oh, what the heck, just add it to the basket" buy from this order.

And here it is - the full size free gift (I feel the need to put it in bold because when do companies ever just give you a product free!? Hardly ever.) This is the Vitamin E Moisture Cream - retailing at £11. Now although I do have combination skin I think I will give this a try just because it has such good reviews on the website and is also a best seller.Although this offer isn't on any more I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for more, especially when the Christmas items come because they are my absolute favourite (and also mean lots and lots of offers!) I hope you enjoyed this post and please let me know in the comments any of your favourite bath/body/skincare products because I'm always looking to try new ones :-) ♡

Sunday, 14 September 2014

So it’s been over a week now since my first
post and I really just wanted time to think about what exactly I want to post
on this blog. Now that I have a few ideas I want to try and get posts up
regularly, hopefully on set days of the week. I’ve decided to dedicate Sunday’s
posts to lifestyle and all things positivity and motivational. I’ve chosen to
call it ‘Smile, It’s Sunday’ to hopefully help change the idea of Sundays being
horrible and sucky because of it meaning a new week of school or work ahead of us.
I hope by posting things I find motivational, and things I use to make me feel
like a happier person, I can also help others as well – to make them feel good
and ready to start a new week, happy.

Last Sunday I wrote a post about Hannah
Snowdon, a person I find really influential and aspire to. In that post I also
said you can find a lot of motivational quotes/pictures/posts online, however I
completely forgot to mention a book I bought this year that is also incredibly
inspiring and I think would be helpful for many people. This book is written by
singer-songwriter/actress Demi Lovato and is titled ‘Staying Strong: 365 Days A
Year.’ Now for anyone who is immediately put off, don’t worry, this is not an
autobiography! I thought it was when I first picked it up but it’s actually a
diary style book with each day of the year having it’s own motivational quote
and little idea that you can try to help improve your mindset on a daily basis.

Although I’m not the biggest fan of Demi
(just due to the fact I’m not into that style of music) I LOVE this book. In
fact, it’s still sitting on my desk in easy reach for me to read if I’m ever
feeling at all insignificant... You know those kind of days? The book touches
on some of the issues Demi has had to, and in some cases still has to, deal
with; an eating disorder, bipolar disorder, severe depression and self-harm (maybe more.) But, like I said,
this is not an autobiography and I feel anyone who ever has those days like I do
where the stress and pressure is just a bit too much, or you just feel a bit
bleugh, this book could help perk up your mood and make you believe that
anything you want to achieve or change in your life is possible.

There are other books still on my ‘To Be
Read’ list that are along a similar idea – all about how to be a more positive
person – so there may be more posts like this in the future (that’s if I think
those books are helpful and worth reading!)

If you have any questions please leave them
in the comments! Oh and also, being new to the whole blogger world I would love
to talk to people about their blog and about who their favourite bloggers are
so I can check them out - so please comment and we can maybe get on touch
through email or something :-)

Thank you for reading and a beauty post
should be up soon (as soon as I receive the package in the post...) ♡

Sunday, 7 September 2014

As I have only just created this blog I was
very eager to get a post up, however, at the same time I didn’t want to post
for the sake of it. So I thought about what I really wanted this blog to be
about and decided I didn’t want to just ramble on about products post after
post. I thought about the blogs and the people who I look up to and decided to
make this post about the people who I find influential and share great
positivity.The first person who immediately popped
into my head is Hannah Snowdon. Hannah is known for her amazing artwork and
tattoo creations (it’s a dream, if I were ever to have a tattoo, to have my
first tattoo done by her.) For me, I also love her style and most importantly
admire the way she promotes such positivity in her social media.

On her Instagram (@hannahpixiesnow), along
with posting her artwork and sharing her life, she also posts very inspiring
quotes and shares her views on subjects I feel are so relevant nowadays. These
posts speak about being a better person from the inside out and how we can help
share positivity with others as well. She is also part of a blog -
http://living-light-blog.tumblr.com/
- which posts about their beliefs in veganism and to provide information
for people interested in changing their own lifestyle. Whether you believe in
eating meat/produce from animals or not (I don’t actually know a great deal
about veganism), this blog is so refreshing and I feel like, in the only words
I can think of, I can change the world after coming off it.

I feel nowadays we live in a society where
we put ourselves down constantly and the pressures of fitting in are unbelievable. Therefore, it’s rare to find people like Hannah who spread such
positive energy. That’s why I feel I need to share social media accounts like
Hannah’s to show how influential we can all be and how easy it is to spread
positivity, because I know whenever I’m feeling down I look to these accounts
to make myself feel better again.

Another person online who I feel spreads positivity is Sammi Maria, better known as BeautyCrush on youtube. As well
as posting her beauty and fashion videos she also occasionally posts videos
about being confident in yourself, which I find really useful and makes me feel
a lot more inspired after watching.

I've just realised this post is becoming very wordy so if you're looking for any other healthy/happy promoting social media accounts I would recommend searching in the tags on Tumblr/Instagram or wherever for things like 'happy', 'healthy', 'lifestyle' and you will hopefully find motivational quotes and photos there.

I hope you found this post useful and if you have any
other useful websites/social media accounts please leave them in the comments
below ♡